Judging Restaurants – Saigon Bistro
03 November 2009 12:00 PM | By Prince Of Petworth in Dupont(ish), Neighborhoods - Dupont Circle, Restaurants, Restaurants - Dupont Circle
Saigon Bistro is located at 2153 P St., NW. I recently just had some delicious Pho at Pho 14. So what I’m really wondering is how does the Pho rank here?
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03 November 2009 12:16 PM | anonymous Said:
Meh.
03 November 2009 12:43 PM | Nate Said:
I’m sorry, but Pho 14 is mediocre at best. Go out to Eden Center, or hell, even Langley Park or Laurel.
03 November 2009 12:55 PM | Anonymous Said:
I haven’t been, but my wife insists the pho at Saigon Bistro is terrible. “Like dirty water” was how she described it.
On the subject of Pho 14, my last visit (and there have been at least a couple dozen) was kind of disappointing. The broth was less noticeably low in flavor (lack of salt and star anise, I think), with a really skimpy amount of meat. I’ve been a big fan since it opened (it’s not as good as places in VA, but not a bad substitute at all), so I hope this was just an off night.
03 November 2009 12:58 PM | Anonymous Said:
Given the obvious, that Vietnamese food is better in Eden Center, and also in Vietnam, the pho here is still tasty, and worth eating on a lunch hour when not all of us can be in delightful suburban virginia.
03 November 2009 1:02 PM | MK Said:
The Pho Nam restaurant on Shady Grove Road is just awesome and the only good thing about Gaithersburg.
03 November 2009 1:53 PM | Jenny Cizner Said:
Gross — Pho is a No Go
03 November 2009 1:57 PM | Jon "I love Pho" Favreau Said:
The Pho here is great and really affordable. Two thumbs up.
03 November 2009 2:10 PM | Michael PhO'Neill Said:
I’m a fool for Pho
03 November 2009 2:18 PM | Jon FaPHrO Said:
If pho is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.
Geau Pho!!!!!!!!!!!! @——->—————-
03 November 2009 2:23 PM | Quincy Street Neighbor Said:
As a Viet, I rather like Pho 14. In fact I find their broth rather refined. Flavorful without being too heavy.
Being over-saturated with spice or excessively greasy does not necessarily make a pho dish more authentic. In my book it’s a sign of inattentive cook who let the broth run mucky muck amok!
03 November 2009 3:27 PM | RD Said:
This place is decent. Better than the crap pho in Cleveland Park, but not as good as Pho 14. Of course you can get better pho in the suburbs, but that’s not a fair comparison.
03 November 2009 3:58 PM | vonstallin Said:
Damn I like all the PHO spots..
Eden center in VA..
Cleveland parks Pho spot..
And i took a friend/date to Pho 14…my first time their…
Ill never forget that date….I was given a shocking “Surprise” a few months later….
03 November 2009 3:59 PM | AMH Said:
I am by no means a pho snob. I have eaten it maybe a total of 3 times in my whole life but this place is just awful. So if you are in fact a pho snob then you will think it is beyond awful here.
03 November 2009 6:16 PM | eli Said:
saigon pho tasted pretty decent to me (i’m not going to pretend — for me pho is either out of the park amazing because of subtle flavors, really bad, or just decent).
negatives:
it is in the pricey range (it’s on P street), they charged me $2 extra for beef tendon, which is a must in pho IMO, and they serve pho in these stylish bowls, which I get are supposed to make it more upscale, but seem smaller than the standard round bowl